Professor P. sews her own clothes. She has to, she says, because dresses with beautiful details — like sleeves with six button cuffs — are hard to find.

And gloves! What happened to gloves?

“Up until the 1960s,” Przybyszewski said, “gloves were considered a requirement.”

And what about hats?

“You were considered slightly undressed if you didn’t have a hat on,” she said.

So, Giles asked, were the Sixties involved in taking us down this spiral of slobby?

“The ’60s were involved,” Przybyszewski laughed. “Actually, because of the suburbs, casual clothing became more normal for people to wear all the time.”

… and a demand for simpler, and cheaper clothes.

“I think style just moved toward simplicity. and eventually slipped into stupidity,” said Przybyszewski.

To judge from Professor Przybyszewski’s students, her one-woman crusade to rescue the nation from its own sloppiness is bearing fruit.

“My supervisor told me, ‘Always dress up for Linda’s class, because she thinks Notre Dame students dress like slobs,’” said Karina Reich.

“I don’t sleep in pajama bottoms, I wouldn’t wear them to the dining hall,” said Emma Terhaar.

Jared Clemmensen said dressing sloppily is an intentional “I don’t care” statement. “I see people in the dining hall, and they’re wearing pajama bottoms. I’m like, ‘Are you really wearing those? Like, are you trying to make a statement?’

“The worst,” added Terhaar, “is when they have makeup on. ‘Oh, you put makeup on, but you couldn’t change out of your pajamas?’ Yeah, I don’t believe you.”